The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina section of the American Chemical Society have teamed up once again to present Chemistry Day on Saturday, October 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Museum, located in downtown Raleigh at the corner of Jones and Salisbury streets. All of the Chemistry Day activities will take place on the first floor of the Museum. Free. This year’s theme is “Chemistry: Our Health, Our Future.”

Join us for an incredible, unbelievable story told the untamed way … and shown in intriguing 2-D … when “Robot Monster” launches an attack on common sense at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on First Friday, October 7 at 7pm. Free.

Join us for a visual tour of the places in the world most affected by climate change, from the poles to mountains and our cities, when explorer and photojournalist Gary Braasch presents “Climate Change Now: A Photographer Explores the World of Global Warming” at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh on Monday, October 3, 7pm. Free.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ annual BugFest Critter Cook-off, the official start to BugFest 2011, kicks off on Friday, September 16 at 11 a.m. in the Treasures Hall of the Museum. This Iron-Chef style media preview has been a crowd pleaser for more than ten years. Chef Jim Long, Executive Sous Chef at the Angus Barn will compete against Chef Michael Lee, Executive Chef of Sono Japanese Restaurant for the title of BugFest Critter Cook-off Champion 2011!

Genghis Khan: The Exhibition explores the arc of Khan’s dramatic life — from illiterate, tormented child to the millennium’s greatest ruler, coupled with the rise of an unparalleled empire of freedom and innovation which he created.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences presents bite-sized chunks of natural history interpreted by Museum educators. Topics so far include carpenter bees, Cochineal insects, and woodpecker tongues.

An international team of researchers, including Museum herpetologist Bryan Stuart, has completed the first major survey in Asia of a deadly fungus that has wiped out more than 200 species of amphibians worldwide.

Whether they’re hiding in the corners of our homes, spinning a web or descending upon us on a single thread of silk, spiders are undeniably fascinating which is why they’re the theme bug for this year’s BugFest—the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ biggest event of the year and the largest, one-day, bug-centric event of its kind in the country.